AS Roma head coach Jose Mourinho says he promised Ghana teenager Felix Afena-Gyan really expensive boots which he reminded him about after his historic goal in Serie A on Sunday.
Afena-Gyan, 18, has enjoyed an incredible rise to the elite having been scouted during a High School football tournament in his homeland towards becoming the first player born in 2003 to score in Serie A.
He made his first-team debut under Mourinho before the FIFA International break and rejected a Black Stars call-up to face Ethiopia and Bafana Bafana because it ‘came too early’ and was rewarded for his decision against Genoa.
Thrown on as a second-half substitute, the teenager who was promoted to the first-team after scoring six goals in five games in the U-19 squad, netted a brace, the first of which he celebrated wildly with Mourinho.
“I had promised to buy Felix the boots he really likes, which are really expensive, they cost €800 (R14000), so he ran over and told me not to forget! Tomorrow morning, the first thing I do is buy him the boots,” Mourinho told DAZN.
“I am sorry for Mister De Rossi and the Primavera squad, but Felix will stay with us. The Primavera work close to us, so Felix and another four or five players have come across to the senior squad.
“What impressed me the most was his cool head in front of goal. If he is not in terms of technique fantastic, he does have a strong mentality.
“You get these kids now who think they know everything, but he is humble and you can sense he just absorbs all this information from everyone around him. That’s fantastic.”
